DUDE, WHERE'S MY STORM TRACKER? Senator’s bill would nix the government’s daily weather posts

Senator’s bill would nix the government’s daily weather posts

Some people track sports scores. Others track who’s sleeping with whom on daytime soaps. Skiers, in their lust for deep turns, track storms, often through the National Weather Service, which provides free daily Web postings for weather in every zip code across the country.

Under a bill pending in the U.S. Senate, that would no longer be possible. Labeled as the National Weather Service Duties Act of 2005, the bill, recently introduced by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), intends to prohibit federal meteorologists from competing with private companies, which offer their own forecasts through paid services and free ad-supported Web sites. The National Weather Service (NWS) would only be able to post warnings about impending natural hazards, such as hurricanes, floods or tornadoes. Though it’s likely that the agency would continue to issue skier-prized winter storm warnings, the agency’s daily forecasts would come to a stop.

Though finding a weather forecast for most ski resorts these days is as easy as a click of the mouse, or a step in a ski bum bar—where the primetime episode is always The Weather Channel and the heroine is weather goddess Jennifer Lopez—many skiers in rural communities rely on the quick info provided by the NWS (nws.noaa.gov)to see if there’s a big Low Pressure heading their way.

The rational behind Santorum’s bill is that the government shouldn’t be competing with the private sector by offering the same information. In a statement, Santorum says the bill would “reflect today’s reality in which the National Weather Service and the commercial weather industry both play important parts in providing weather products and services to the nation.” He adds that the NWS has expanded into areas that are already well served by private companies.

Critics are worried that the bill, if it should pass, would cause mountains of free online weather data to be pulled from public consumption.

Santorum, however, contends the bill brings the NWS back to its core mission of maintaining “a modern and effective meteorological infrastructure, collecting comprehensive observational data, and issuing warnings and forecasts of severe weather that imperil life and property.”

To read the entire bill, go to www.senate.gov and search for S. 786.